TOUCH RUGBY
Beasts win Taipei final
The Taipei Beasts wrapped up a comfortable win in the final of the Taipei Touch Association’s Winter League at the Bailing rugby fields in Shilin District yesterday. The Taipei Hulks, who finished second on the ladder, had their line crossed regularly and picked up a consolation touchdown late on. Veteran Johan Koekemoer finished off the scoring with a dance to the line to make it 5-1. AyKang Galaxy finished third after unlocking the defenses of the Taipei Celts, winning 9-4 in their playoff, while KGB were fifth in the playoff for fifth and sixth against Taipei American School, winning 7-2. The school team are hosting an all-female tournament on Jan. 21.
SOCCER
Conceicao starts well
Coach Sergio Conceicao’s first Ligue 1 match in charge of struggling Nantes ended with a 2-0 win at Angers SCO on Friday. Veteran midfielder Guillaume Gillet scored in the first half and 19-year-old midfielder Amine Harit netted his first league goal shortly after halftime. The win moved Nantes up one place to 18th ahead of the rest of the weekend’s games. Conceicao, who made 56 appearances as a winger for Portugal, took over after Rene Girard was fired. His side beat Montpellier Herault 3-1 midweek to reach the Coupe de la Ligue quarter-finals.
RUGBY UNION
Goosen exit shocks Racing
French club champion Racing 92 were considering legal action after they were shocked by the retirement of 24-year-old Springboks back Johan Goosen on Friday. Goosen made “the unbelievable decision” to stop playing and return home to South Africa where he had “an alleged hiring as a commercial director,” Racing said in a statement on their Web site. Club president Jacky Lorenzetti said Goosen was making a mistake to end his playing career and not respecting a new contract in June that gave him three more years at the Paris-based club. “The club reserve the right to give such conduct all appropriate judicial follow-up, both with regard to Johan Goosen and those who advise him,” Lorenzetti said. Goosen joined Racing from the Cheetahs in 2014 and helped them win their first Top 14 title this year in 26 years. His ability to play across the backline earned him Top 14 player of the year and a recall to the Springboks after two years. He received seven more Test caps this year, the last just three weeks ago in Cardiff. Goosen was not in the Racing lineup who lost to Glasgow 23-7 on Friday in European Champions Cup pool play.
ICE HOCKEY
Eakin banned after charge
The National Hockey League on Friday announced that it was slapping Dallas Stars forward Cody Eakin with a four-game suspension for a charge on New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. The incident occurred on Thursday halfway through the first period of their game. Canadian Eakin was assessed a major penalty for charging and a game misconduct for a heavy blow that knocked Lundqvist’s helmet off and sent him crashing to the ice. “First thing is the league better do something about that hit,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said after the game. “It’s everything you want to take away from the game.” Lundqvist, of Sweden, left the ice after the hit, but returned about five minutes later and completed a 2-0 shutout.
Taiwan’s double world champion Lin Yu-ting lost her bronze medal at the International Boxing Association (IBA) Women’s World Boxing Championships after she failed to meet eligibility criteria, the governing body of amateur boxing said yesterday. The IBA did not elaborate on Lin’s disqualification. Bulgarian Svetlana Kamenova Staneva, who lost to Lin in the under-57kg quarter-finals, was awarded the bronze medal. Algeria’s Imane Khelif was also disqualified hours before her gold medal bout. The 23-year-old was scheduled to meet Yang Liu in the 66kg division final, but Thailand’s Janjaem Suwannapheng, who lost to Khelif in the semi-finals, would fight the Chinese instead. “A boxer from Algeria
Retired Formula One champion Nelson Piquet has been ordered by a Brazilian court to pay more than US$950,000 in “moral damages” for making racist and homophobic comments about Lewis Hamilton. The 70-year-old Brazilian had referred to seven-time champion Hamilton as “neguinho,” a racially offensive term that means “little black guy,” in 2021. In another interview, Piquet used racist and homophobic language. The court in Brasilia on Friday ordered Piquet to pay 5 million (US$952,998) reals “in collective moral damages, to be allocated to funds for the promotion of racial equality and against discrimination of the LGBTQIA+ community.” The charges were filed by several
Japanese two-way star Shohei Ohtani is to make a one-season MLB record US$65 million this year in salary and endorsements, Forbes magazine reported on Tuesday. Ohtani, set to be the starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels in their MLB season opener today against Oakland, helped spark Japan to the World Baseball Classic title a week ago with a victory over the US in the final. The 28-year-old who serves as an outfielder and designated hitter when not on the mound, signed a one-year contract extension worth US$30 million last year and will make US$35 million in endorsements this year, Forbes reported. That
ISRAEL PROTESTS: Disappointed soccer fans said that the loss of the under-20 event would affect young players and lamented the blind mixing of political issues Indonesian fans reacted with anger and dismay yesterday after the nation on Wednesday was stripped of hosting rights for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup only eight weeks before the start of the tournament amid political turmoil regarding Israel’s participation. FIFA said that Indonesia was removed from staging the 24-team tournament scheduled to start on May 20 “due to the current circumstances,” without specifying details. The decision followed a meeting in Doha between Indonesian soccer federation president Erick Thohir and FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Israel qualified in June last year for their first Under-20 World Cup, but the country’s participation in the official draw
RSS